EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale
Abstract
Latin American women experience higher rates of cervical cancer, mainly due to lower rates of participation in cervical cancer screening. This study used community-based participatory research to create and implement a tailored lay health worker (LHW) outreach program to increase cervical cancer screening participation in a Guatemalan community. Surveys with Guatemalan women revealed that they would be more likely to participate in screening if they had more information and one of their main sources of information was their peers. An analysis of the existing resources showed that there was not a method of communicating accurate information through the social networks in the community, thus an LHW program met the needs of the community. This paper outlines the implementation of the LHW program in Guatemala and describes its components which may guide future LHW program development to increase cervical cancer screening in Latin America
